Happy Darwin Day! Celebrate with a bird that sings with its wings

Of course we can’t officially call it that because U.S. Rep. Rush Holt’s resolution to designate Feb. 12, 2013, as Darwin Day — shockingly — didn’t make it out of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Eric, As long as my local football team is winning, and my wife can watch all Kardashian all the time who cares about science? Besides, the Good Book tells me all I need about how we came to be and how long it took. You should look it up.

Poe’s Law only applies when the language is natural. If the post is one or two lines long, but captures three or more stereotypical rants with precision, it is the parody, not the sincere, because actual passion tends to gush into extra justification.

Darwin studied and wrote about one of the most important insights into life on earth and, yet, for many it is controversial because it contradicts some superstitions. The ancient books were written when there was little scientific knowledge and in efforts to explain how people came to be. We shouldn’t expect their attempts to be completely true. Some have preferred to not push evolution on those who hold dearly to their beliefs and don’t want to offend. But it is time for everyone to be exposed to the truth of evolution in order to enlighten all.

1. The universal genetic code. All cells on Earth, from our white blood cells, to simple bacteria, to cells in the leaves of trees, are capable of reading any piece of DNA from any life form on Earth. This is very strong evidence for a common ancestor from which all life descended.

2. The fossil record. The fossil record shows that the simplest fossils will be found in the oldest rocks, and it can also show a smooth and gradual transition from one form of life to another.

3. Genetic commonalities. Human beings have approximately 96% of genes in common with chimpanzees, about 90% of genes in common with cats (source), 80% with cows (source), 75% with mice (source), and so on. This does not prove that we evolved from chimpanzees or cats, though, only that we shared a common ancestor in the past. And the amount of difference between our genomes corresponds to how long ago our genetic lines diverged.

4. Common traits in embryos. Humans, dogs, snakes, fish, monkeys, eels (and many more life forms) are all considered “chordates” because we belong to the phylum Chordata. One of the features of this phylum is that, as embryos, all these life forms have gill slits, tails, and specific anatomical structures involving the spine. For humans (and other non-fish) the gill slits reform into the bones of the ear and jaw at a later stage in development. But, initially, all chordate embryos strongly resemble each other.

In fact, pig embryos are often dissected in biology classes because of how similar they look to human embryos. These common characteristics could only be possible if all members of the phylum Chordata descended from a common ancestor.

5. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Bacteria colonies can only build up a resistance to antibiotics through evolution. It is important to note that in every colony of bacteria, there are a tiny few individuals which are naturally resistant to certain antibiotics. This is because of the random nature of mutations.

When an antibiotic is applied, the initial innoculation will kill most bacteria, leaving behind only those few cells which happen to have the mutations necessary to resist the antibiotics. In subsequent generations, the resistant bacteria reproduce, forming a new colony where every member is resistant to the antibiotic. This is natural selection in action. The antibiotic is “selecting” for organisms which are resistant, and killing any that are not.

Go ahead and keep your head in the sand. If there were no evolution then we wouldn’t have to worry about bird or swine flu, either everyone or no one would get cancer, and we would all be the same color as Adam and Eve. While you are on your superstitous rant why don’t you enlighten everyone as to how Noah managed to save all the unique species in Australia and the Galapagos.

Here’s a snippet from the 2012 platform of the Texas Republican Party:

“Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”

The only puzzle here is how anyone can believe that anything evolved. There is absolutely no scientific evidence of evolution. In fact there is scientific evidence that it never happened. Everything coming from nothing is as likely as tornados blowing through a junk yard over and over for billions of years until they assembled a 747. There is adaptation within a species, but never evolution into a species.

I agree, Gerald.
The fact that Adolf Hitler kept a copy of Darwin’s Origin of Species with him at all times tells me all I need to know about the THEORY of evolution.
That we came from nothing, have no purpose and are going nowhere, as Darwin believed is sickening.

I do not congratulate myself on how smart I am. I do not believe I am particularly smart. However, when I want my teeth cleaned I am smart enough to go to a dentist. When I want to take a flight, I am smart enough to fly on a plane with a pilot. When I have a theological question I will ask my pastor. And when I want to understand biology I will ask a biologist. In short, I am smart enough to defer to experts in a particular field in which I have no special expertise.

In regard to Einstein, by the way, you’re simply wrong.

“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.”— Albert Einstein, 1954, from Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press

What you do not understand is that when you call it the Theory of Evolution, you are giving it the highest accolade possible in science. You are saying that this idea has been tested multiple times and found to be the best, most consistent explanation for the evidence and that it makes testable predictions that are both unexpected and correct. In short, you are saying that it is the next best thing to certain.

That you do not understand this and think that "theory" is an insult tells us everything that we need to know about your level of scientific acumen.

I am not wrong. That is a direct quote of Einstein’s.
It does not make him a believer as he clearly states in your quote.
One can acknowledge a Creator God, like he most certainly did, and not be a believer.
Many people acknowledge that there is a power greater than themselves, or a God, but they are not people of faith.

John D, you’re certainly a lot smarter than I am but you’re also a very unhappy person.

So, I’ll take Less Intelligent and be happy, over your Miserable Intellectual.

If we need a Darwin Day then where are the Einstein, Kepler, Copernicus and Newton Days? Those four scientists contributed more to science in general and particular than Darwin ever did. Well, in my opinion, some want a Darwin day because his Theory of Evolution blows away the Biblical account of Creation.

As a biology professor who loves physics, I would be very happy to celebrate all of the days that you propose. But those were all physicists. For biology, we NEED to celebrate Darwin, because evolution is one of the few theories in biology that has stood the test of time. I would also like to have Gregor Mendel day, Watson and Crick day, and so many others. In fact, I would like to make every day Science day!

And by the way, I am NOT an atheist. My religious faith has nothing to do with the FACTS discovered by science.

Early attempts to explain how human came to be were, of course, incorrect since there was little science at those times. Some of these stories were written into books and people learned to accept. But Darwin studied actual specimens and determined that humans and other life forms were derived from different preexisting species. This is, of course, a better explanation. Some don’t want to give up the old theories and try to interfere with our children learning what Darwin determined to be true. More in the developed world now give credit to Darwin.

I do wish that someone who believes in this foolishness would actually show the rest of us something that has evolved…. God made this world and everything in it…. Of course I do realize that some will never understand that simple idea….

How anyone can think this universe with the thousands of species of animals, birds, fish, insects, etc. EVOLVED is incredible.
Example: the evolution of the eye is absolutely and completely impossible.
So, the evolutionists call the eye a flawed design.
Because they cannot explain it.
God cannot be explained or intellectualized and therefore cannot be mastered.
So, this THEORY of evolution was invented in an attempt to write Him off.
The only “scientists” who believe in evolution are more committed to evolution than to science, because science eliminates any possibility of evolution.
Something cannot come from nothing and I did not come from an ape and neither did you.
Go to reasons dot org.
The “reasons” is for Reasons To Believe.
Dr. Hugh Ross is an astro-physicist who became a believer after studying the stars and the planets.
The heavens convinced him of the existance of a Creator-God.
And yes, he is a creationist but the data is spot on.

European Molecular Biology Laboratory from 2004:
Researchers in the laboratories of Detlev Arendt and Jochen Wittbrodt have discovered that the lightsensitive cells of our eyes, the rods and cones, are of unexpected evolutionary origin – they come from an ancient population of light-sensitive cells that were initially located in the brain. “It is not surprising that cells of human eyes come from the brain. We still have light-sensitive cells in our brains today which detect light and influence our daily rhythms of activity,” explains Wittbrodt. “Quite possibly, the human eye has originated from light-sensitive cells in the brain. Only later in evolution would such brain cells have relocated into an eye and gained the potential to confer vision.”

From wiki:
The eyes of many taxa record their evolutionary history in their imperfect design. The vertebrate eye, for instance, is built “backwards and upside down”, requiring “photons of light to travel through the cornea, lens, aqueous fluid, blood vessels, ganglion cells, amacrine cells, horizontal cells, and bipolar cells before they reach the light-sensitive rods and cones that transduce the light signal into neural impulses, which are then sent to the visual cortex at the back of the brain for processing into meaningful patterns.”[32] While such construct seems to have drawbacks, it allows the outer retina of the vertebrates to sustain higher metabolic activities as compared to the non-inverted design.[33] It also allowed for the evolution of the choroid layer, including the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells, which play an important role in protecting the photoreceptive cells from photo-oxidative damage.[34] [35]

The camera eyes of cephalopods, in contrast, are constructed the “right way out”, with the nerves attached to the rear of the retina. This means that they do not have a blind spot. This difference may be accounted for by the origins of eyes; in cephalopods they develop as an invagination of the head surface whereas in vertebrates they originate as an extension of the brain.

Godiva,
Accepting that you are a self-described person-of-faith, why do you claim that the simple, observable, fact that all life evolves through natural selection to be incompatible with either your version of Christianity, or (bizarrely) science itself?

According to a recent MIT study, overwhelming majority of Christians* (89%) don’t have a problem resolving this.

I suggest you actually read Darwin’s book. He actually answers all your questions specifically about the eye. Do not confuse yourself evolution is a scientific FACT. The THEORY of Evolution is how we evolved.

Just in case the Lady doesn’t follow the link, it shows that one of the criteria Nazis used for banning books was “Writings of a philosophical and social nature whose content deals with the false scientific enlightenment of primitive Darwinism and Monism (Häckel).”

The comments on this article will make an interesting historic record in about 100 years ago when historians are trying to understand how the United States ceded its scientific and technical leadership – and with it, its economic success – to the nations of Asia and Latin America, becoming a backwater in the 22nd century compared to superpowers like India and China.

God gave every living creature the right to choose its own course, to grow, to improve as that creature feels appropriate. THAT is evolution in a nutshell.
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Ever think that GOD, in all infinite wisdom, created evolution? God’s pretty sneaky that way and with evolution, God keeps living creatures from stagnating with it. Nifty, huh??

“Of course we can’t officially call it that because U.S. Rep. Rush Holt’s resolution to designate Feb. 12, 2013, as Darwin Day — shockingly — didn’t make it out of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.”
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And it, understandably, never will.

Madame Godiva, why do you see fit to go onto a blog about science and blather inanely about a completely different topic, a topic that is so out of place in the current discussion and so completely over your head that it will prove to not only expose your ignorance, but will probably actually dissuade people from agreeing with you because you sound so completely out of your depth?

There are many fine blogs dedicated to religion, folklore, and fairy tales… Some of them are even on Chron.com. Perhaps you’d be more comfortable there?

Godiva, you say i’ve ‘posted no facts.’ What would be the point of that? The facts are all around us.
The Theory of Gravity is, to use your words, ‘just a theory.’ The bible is silent on the gravity controversy, but still, even you can’t deny the fact of gravity. And while we certainly have more secrets of gravity to discover, we can all accept that it exists. It’s the same with evolution. We have more to learn, but there is a good solid framework on which to build our body of knowledge. That’s what a scientific Theory is – a network of findings , the results of which are so reliably expected that they can be considered “fact”. We no longer need to debate these things, and instead, we can use it as a basis of understanding for future research.

Eric, you are a patient man, especially when the disagreement with you goes straight to insults, as in the case of Ms Godiva. Keep up the good work you do at the Chronicle. I had no idea it was Darwin Day and appreciate you telling us!

Unfortunately I’m also depressed that it’s 2013 and we’re in a modern, industrialized nation where nearly everyone goes to school, and I’m seeing some of the comments above. That so many people revel in their ignorance is a frightening portent.